that a challenge?” he asked in a flat tone that contained more than a little menace.
Zak and Axel shot him a warning look.
“I won’t just bend you, Princesa,” Paxton continued, ignoring Zak and Axel. “I’ll break you. You might have my two cousins wrapped around your little fingers with your exotic looks, but neither of them will be able to stop me if you get on my bad side—I’ll take you out, mortal. And you haven’t met the heartless Demigod of Death. No man or woman can bewitch him. No one touches him and lives.”
Princesa meant princess in Spanish. The Demigod of Sea was mocking me. I was as far from a princess as anyone could get. I was raised in the streets, in the hood. Paxton was simply reminding me that I was a street rat by calling me princess. I bet Axel had briefed his demigod cousins about where he’d rounded me up.
“Will you stop terrorizing Marigold?” Axel challenged back. “You know I’m on her side.”
Paxton graced Axel with a glance. “Even Zak takes your side since the two of you share the same house, but Héctor will always be in my corner. And I want you two to remember we agreed not to fight over a woman.”
“I might have lavender hair,” I said in a snide tone as I shoved a fist into the air, “but my look is far from exotic. It’s an everyday, regular girl’s look. And secondly—”
Axel pulled my fist down. “Don’t aggravate him while you’re still in a delicate state, Cookie,”
“Don’t put her and Paxton alone in a room,” Zak declared. “And we’ll avert a disaster.”
Theodore frowned deeply as he wheeled around me, still trying to locate a symbol of a god’s power on my skin or maybe wait for it to appear.
“She might not even be a mortal,” the priest said. “No mortal could live through channeling divine fire. Even a demigod can’t take it alone. The runes with the combined powers of the twelve major gods would leave an imprint on a god as well.”
“Are you saying she’s above us?” Paxton snarled. “Be careful with your words.”
Theodore startled. “Of course not. That’s blasphemy. As your priest, I’d never commit such a sin. However, Marigold is the first unknown to us. An utter mystery. What I’m saying is she could be an immortal, but to find out what she really is, we may have to wait for time to tell. Her powers will eventually manifest, and then we’ll decide what to do with her.”
I felt a chill down my spine. What were they going to do with me if they decided I wasn’t what they were looking for?
“I don’t think we’re ever going to find a rune mark or any symbol of any god’s house on me,” I said, pulling Axel’s trench coat tightly around me. “Which only means one thing.”
“What is that, Cookie?” Axel asked in concern.
“Yeah, what is that, Princesa?” Paxton asked arrogantly as he returned to standing in front of me with his arms folded across his chest.
I smirked, feeling victorious for the first time since the Dominions had rounded up my team and me.
I’d defied their rules.
I’d confused all three demigods and their priest.
Axel had forced me to come here. Paxton and Zak had refused to listen to reason when I’d pleaded with them. They’d screwed me big, and I screwed them right back, giving them no answers and no satisfaction.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I was so stubborn that I’d beat the demigods at their own game or because I was something else that granted me the power to cancel out the runes.
The important thing was: these assholes couldn’t figure me out.
I hoped they never would.
“It means I don’t come from the Olympian gods’ bloodlines,” I said giddily. “I don’t belong to any of your houses since I’m not a descendant, unlike the surviving initiates and your Dominion soldiers. You have no right to hold me here. You must release me immediately!”
“Like hell we’ll ever let you go,” Zak said. The sudden possessiveness in his voice took me aback.
“But I don’t belong in Half-Blood Academy,” I shouted. “If you want me to stay, you can send me to the Other Academy. I’ll fit right in there.” I wanted to be with Jasper and Circe, the only family I had. “As Saint Theodore said,” I continued, lowering my voice a little at the demigods’ dark looks, “I’m clearly not exactly a human. But since I’m not